Antibiotic Resistance in the Food Chain: A Developing Country-Perspective

Overview

Journal Front Microbiol

Specialty Microbiology

Date 2016 Dec 10

PMID 27933044

Citations 251

Authors

Luria Leslie Founou

Raspail Carrel Founou

Sabiha Yusuf Essack

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Antibiotics are now "endangered species" facing extinction due to the worldwide emergence of antibiotic resistance (ABR). Food animals are considered as key reservoirs of antibiotic-resistant bacteria with the use of antibiotics in the food production industry having contributed to the actual global challenge of ABR. There are no geographic boundaries to impede the worldwide spread of ABR. If preventive and containment measures are not applied locally, nationally and regionally, the limited interventions in one country, continent and for instance, in the developing world, could compromise the efficacy and endanger ABR containment policies implemented in other parts of the world, the best-managed high-resource countries included. Multifaceted, comprehensive, and integrated measures complying with the One Health approach are imperative to ensure food safety and security, effectively combat infectious diseases, curb the emergence and spread of ABR, and preserve the efficacy of antibiotics for future generations. Countries should follow the World Health Organization, World Organization for Animal Health, and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations recommendations to implement national action plans encompassing human, (food) animal, and environmental sectors to improve policies, interventions and activities that address the prevention and containment of ABR from farm-to-fork. This review covers (i) the origin of antibiotic resistance, (ii) pathways by which bacteria spread to humans from farm-to-fork, (iii) differences in levels of antibiotic resistance between developed and developing countries, and (iv) prevention and containment measures of antibiotic resistance in the food chain.

Citing Articles

'When global health meets global goals': assessing the alignment between antimicrobial resistance and sustainable development policies in 10 African and Asian countries.

Nguyen Thanh L, Wernli D, Malqvist M, Sogaard Jorgensen P BMJ Glob Health. 2025; 10(3).

PMID: 40068927 PMC: 11904336. DOI: 10.1136/bmjgh-2024-017837.

Immunomodulatory and growth-promoting effects of root powder in broiler chicks challenged with Gallinarum.

Zhang Y, Rehman H, Khattak F, Tariq M, Khan B, Chaman S Front Vet Sci. 2025; 12:1534347.

PMID: 39963274 PMC: 11831699. DOI: 10.3389/fvets.2025.1534347.

Monitoring the potential dissemination of antimicrobial resistance in foods, environment, and clinical samples: a one health prospective.

Das M, Ojha A, Dolma K, Majumdar T, Sarmah P, Hazarika S Food Sci Biotechnol. 2025; 34(3):803-813.

PMID: 39958177 PMC: 11822141. DOI: 10.1007/s10068-024-01676-z.

Antibiotic Residues in Animal Products from Some African Countries and Their Possible Impact on Human Health.

Oladeji O, Mugivhisa L, Olowoyo J Antibiotics (Basel). 2025; 14(1).

PMID: 39858375 PMC: 11759178. DOI: 10.3390/antibiotics14010090.

Impact of disinfection methods used in the slaughterhouse environment on microbiome diversity throughout the meat production chain.

Naim W, Manetsberger J, Lavilla Lerma L, Benomar N, Caballero Gomez N, Cuesta-Bertomeu I Curr Res Microb Sci. 2025; 8():100336.

PMID: 39844919 PMC: 11751542. DOI: 10.1016/j.crmicr.2024.100336.

References

Moriyon I, Grillo M, Monreal D, Gonzalez D, Marin C, Lopez-Goni I . Rough vaccines in animal brucellosis: structural and genetic basis and present status. Vet Res. 2004; 35(1):1-38. DOI: 10.1051/vetres:2003037. View

Iweriebor B, Iwu C, Obi L, Nwodo U, Okoh A . Multiple antibiotic resistances among Shiga toxin producing Escherichia coli O157 in feces of dairy cattle farms in Eastern Cape of South Africa. BMC Microbiol. 2015; 15:213. PMC: 4609099. DOI: 10.1186/s12866-015-0553-y. View

Price L, Stegger M, Hasman H, Aziz M, Larsen J, Andersen P . Staphylococcus aureus CC398: host adaptation and emergence of methicillin resistance in livestock. mBio. 2012; 3(1). PMC: 3280451. DOI: 10.1128/mBio.00305-11. View

Martins da Costa P, Loureiro L, Matos A . Transfer of multidrug-resistant bacteria between intermingled ecological niches: the interface between humans, animals and the environment. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2013; 10(1):278-94. PMC: 3564142. DOI: 10.3390/ijerph10010278. View

Ewnetu D, Mihret A . Prevalence and antimicrobial resistance of Campylobacter isolates from humans and chickens in Bahir Dar, Ethiopia. Foodborne Pathog Dis. 2010; 7(6):667-70. DOI: 10.1089/fpd.2009.0433. View

Rebuffo-Scheer C, Schmitt J, Scherer S . Differentiation of Listeria monocytogenes serovars by using artificial neural network analysis of Fourier-transformed infrared spectra. Appl Environ Microbiol. 2006; 73(3):1036-40. PMC: 1800759. DOI: 10.1128/AEM.02004-06. View

Holmes A, Moore L, Sundsfjord A, Steinbakk M, Regmi S, Karkey A . Understanding the mechanisms and drivers of antimicrobial resistance. Lancet. 2015; 387(10014):176-87. DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(15)00473-0. View

Andersson D, Hughes D . Microbiological effects of sublethal levels of antibiotics. Nat Rev Microbiol. 2014; 12(7):465-78. DOI: 10.1038/nrmicro3270. View

Wu X, Xiang L, Yan Q, Jiang Y, Li Y, Huang X . Distribution and risk assessment of quinolone antibiotics in the soils from organic vegetable farms of a subtropical city, Southern China. Sci Total Environ. 2014; 487:399-406. DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2014.04.015. View

10.

Barbour E, Hamadeh S, Eidt A . Infection and immunity in broiler chicken breeders vaccinated with a temperature-sensitive mutant of Mycoplasma gallisepticum and impact on performance of offspring. Poult Sci. 2001; 79(12):1730-5. DOI: 10.1093/ps/79.12.1730. View

11.

Chen L, Wilson M . The globalization of healthcare: implications of medical tourism for the infectious disease clinician. Clin Infect Dis. 2013; 57(12):1752-9. PMC: 7107947. DOI: 10.1093/cid/cit540. View

12.

Coetzee J, Corcoran C, Prentice E, Moodley M, Mendelson M, Poirel L . Emergence of plasmid-mediated colistin resistance (MCR-1) among Escherichia coli isolated from South African patients. S Afr Med J. 2016; 106(5):35-6. DOI: 10.7196/SAMJ.2016.v106i5.10710. View

13.

Van Boeckel T, Gandra S, Ashok A, Caudron Q, Grenfell B, Levin S . Global antibiotic consumption 2000 to 2010: an analysis of national pharmaceutical sales data. Lancet Infect Dis. 2014; 14(8):742-750. DOI: 10.1016/S1473-3099(14)70780-7. View

14.

Van Overbeke I, Chiers K, Ducatelle R, Haesebrouck F . Effect of endobronchial challenge with Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae serotype 9 of pigs vaccinated with a vaccine containing Apx toxins and transferrin-binding proteins. J Vet Med B Infect Dis Vet Public Health. 2001; 48(1):15-20. DOI: 10.1046/j.1439-0450.2001.00419.x. View

15.

Marshall B, Levy S . Food animals and antimicrobials: impacts on human health. Clin Microbiol Rev. 2011; 24(4):718-33. PMC: 3194830. DOI: 10.1128/CMR.00002-11. View

16.

Meeusen E, Walker J, Peters A, Pastoret P, Jungersen G . Current status of veterinary vaccines. Clin Microbiol Rev. 2007; 20(3):489-510, table of contents. PMC: 1932753. DOI: 10.1128/CMR.00005-07. View

17.

Lechowicz L, Urbaniak M, Adamus-Bialek W, Kaca W . The use of infrared spectroscopy and artificial neural networks for detection of uropathogenic Escherichia coli strains' susceptibility to cephalothin. Acta Biochim Pol. 2014; 60(4):713-8. View

18.

Osterberg J, Wingstrand A, Jensen A, Kerouanton A, Cibin V, Barco L . Antibiotic Resistance in Escherichia coli from Pigs in Organic and Conventional Farming in Four European Countries. PLoS One. 2016; 11(6):e0157049. PMC: 4928804. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0157049. View

19.

Zaidi M, McDermott P, Campos F, Chim R, Leon M, Vazquez G . Antimicrobial-resistant Campylobacter in the food chain in Mexico. Foodborne Pathog Dis. 2012; 9(9):841-7. DOI: 10.1089/fpd.2012.1127. View

20.

Pelgrift R, Friedman A . Nanotechnology as a therapeutic tool to combat microbial resistance. Adv Drug Deliv Rev. 2013; 65(13-14):1803-15. DOI: 10.1016/j.addr.2013.07.011. View